USS Seadragon (SSN-584)
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | USS Seadragon |
| Awarded: | 29 September 1955 |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard |
| Laid down: | 20 June 1956 |
| Launched: | 16 August 1958 |
| Commissioned: | 5 December 1959 |
| Decommissioned: | 12 June 1984 |
| Struck: | 30 April 1986 |
| Fate: | Submarine recycling program |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Skate-class submarine |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 268 ft (82 m) |
| Beam: | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draft: | 22 ft 5 in (6.83 m) |
| Propulsion: | S4W reactor plant (S3W reactor) |
| Speed: | 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)+ |
| Complement: | 95 officers and men |
| Armament: | 8 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (6 forward, 2 aft) |
USS Seadragon (SSN-584), a Skate-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seadragon, a small fish commonly called the dragonet. This ship was a nuclear-powered submarine.
The contract to build her was awarded to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine on 29 September 1955 and her keel was laid down on 20 June 1956. She was launched on 16 August 1958 sponsored by Mrs. Robert L. Dennison, and commissioned on 5 December 1959, with Lieutenant Commander George P. Steele in command.
Following a Caribbean shakedown cruise, Seadragon returned to Portsmouth, whence, on 1 August 1960, she sailed for the Pacific. Ordered to proceed via the Northwest Passage, she moved north to Parry Channel, at mid-month reached Lancaster Sound, the eastern end of the channel, and continued westward with Edward Parry's 1819 journal as a guide.
Collecting oceanographic and hydrographic data en route, Seadragon transited the Barrow Strait, Viscount Melville Sound, and McClure Strait. On 21 August, she completed the first submarine transit of the Northwest Passage, entered the Beaufort Sea, and headed for the North Pole, which she reached on 25 August. The ship surfaced through the thin ice becoming the third submarine to surface at the pole. Members of the crew laid out a softball diamond with the pitcher's box at the pole where the captain claimed he hit a fly ball at 4:00 pm on Wednesday and it wasn't caught until 4:00 am on Thursday. From the pole, Seadragon (having no other choice) turned south, and after conducting experiments in cooperation with scientists on ice island T-3, headed for the Chukchi Sea and Bering Strait. On 5 September, she reached Nome, Alaska, and, nine days later, she arrived at her home port, Pearl Harbor. She was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her transit of the Northwest Passage via Parry Channel.
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